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Subject: DOJ (yes, really) to Baltimore: citizens *DO* have the right to record your cops
[ACLU press release]DOJ Defends Your Right to Record By Gabe Rottman, Washington Legislative Office at 3:24pm
We haven't pulled punches in our criticism of the Holder Justice Department, so it's especially important that we give credit where credit is due. In support of an important case brought by the ACLU of Maryland defending the right to record, the DOJ's Civil Rights Division forcefully and unequivocally endorsed our view in an unusual (but welcome!) 11-page letter to the Baltimore Police Department.
The letter provides extensive guidance in the context of a settlement conference in a suit against the BPD alleging that Baltimore police officers confiscated and deleted video from the plaintiff's mobile phone after he used it to record officers arresting his friend. The DOJ had filed a "Statement of Interest" earlier in the case, urging the court to find a First Amendment right to record the police, and a violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments when the police seize, search, and destroy recordings without a warrant and due process.
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